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Finally, right? Plus, David Brooks thinks Goldman Sachs may be on the cusp of a coup, and the "summer of legal vindication" kicks off in our hump-day roundup of media, finance, law, and real-estate news.

The writer predicts "the end of capitalism," and may be right; Ariana Huffington talks about her beef with Tim Russert; and a Manhattan lawyer does due diligence with the Other Side, all in our daily rundown of weird, wonderful finance, media, law and real-estate news.

Daniel Radcliffe is spotted toning up his bum for 'Equus,' Mary J. Blige helps a stranger buy a dress, and Adam Duritz takes up with a new actress, all in our daily distillation of the city's gossip columns.

The last few days have brought back discussion of Barack Obama's race and heritage in a way not seen since South Carolina. On Monday, of course, a photo of Obama trying on traditional Somali clothing circulated. Then, in the Cleveland debate two days ago, Tim Russert grilled Obama over the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan and the praise lavished on Farrakhan by Obama’s pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr. Finally, John McCain has been trying to disassociate himself from the fearmongering tactic of dropping Obama’s Muslim-sounding middle name, Hussein, carried out separately by talk-radio host Bill Cunningham and, in a press release yesterday, the Tennessee Republican Party. Into this burgeoning mess wade our pundits.
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Comedian Stephen Colbert, after having been rejected by the South Carolina Democratic machine, has decided to let us all off the hook and drop his presidential campaign, he said today in a statement.

"I am shocked and saddened by the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council’s 13-to-3 vote to keep me off their presidential primary ballot. Although I lost by the slimmest margin in presidential election history — only 10 votes — I have chosen not to put the country through another agonizing Supreme Court battle. It is time for this nation to heal."

MEDIA
• News Corp. surpassed Time Warner to become the largest media company on the planet, and Murdoch held off a shareholder revolt in order to keep his family tyranny in place. [Hollywood Reporter, USAT]
• ESPN poached marquee columnist Rick Reilly from Sports Illustrated after 22 years with the mag. Dan Patrick, who SI just poached from ESPN, will take Reilly's place at the back of the book. [NYT, Deadspin]
• Stephen Colbert took his campaign to the Tim Russert show: "This is not a dream, you are not going to wake up from this. I am far realer than Sam Brownback." [NYT]